


Aftermath, My Way

by Nexas_Hart



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Pepper Potts, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Clint Barton's Farm, Don't Judge Me, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Limited Knowledge of multiple subjects, Minor Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, No Bashing, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25169467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nexas_Hart/pseuds/Nexas_Hart
Summary: Team's in shambles, friends are injured, friendships destroyed. Fault on both sides of the argument, and the ever present threat of danger to the world. Repairs need to be done, burned bridges need to be mended, but how much of that can actually happen?The Aftermath of Civil War, my take.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton & Tony Stark, Clint Barton & Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton/Laura Barton, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Laura Barton & Wanda Maximoff, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Comments: 31
Kudos: 91





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is mainly from the point of view of the people that were on Team Iron-man. For that reason, a lot of it, especially at the beginning, might seem a bit critical of Team Cap. It will, however, go into the faults and failings of both sides of the argument and my attempts at fixing things.

Chapter 1

He wishes that the beeping would stop. Seriously, how is he supposed to enjoy death with all of this beeping. Unless he’s in hell, or whatever other torment he’s earned from whatever afterlife exists out there. As he starts to feel everything again, he groans, partially in disappointment. Nope, not dead.

Remembering how to do so, Tony Stark cracks his eyelids open and lets out another noise as the light floods his vision.

“FRIDAY,” a familiar female voice, calls out. “Dim the lights.”

A second later, Tony opens his eyes again, and he manages to focus on the figure at his bedside. The sight he sees makes him almost cry.

“Nope,” he croaks out. “Not in hell. You wouldn’t be here if I were.”

She lets out a wet laugh at that. Tears in her eyes.

“Some tears for your long-lost boss?”

“You haven’t been my boss for a long time,” Pepper Potts smiles. She leans down and kisses his cheek.

“I thought we were on break.”

She bites her lip eyes turning sympathetic. “I know. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I know we both, well I guess it was mostly me, agreed to focus on our jobs. I just needed us to be able to focus on the company while we were getting used to you not being active with the Avengers but I realized after I’d skipped the September Foundation reveal that I couldn’t just keep things professional between us.”

“Pepper Potts, skipping a scheduled event,” Tony muses. “One that I attended, no less. I never thought I’d see the day.”

That causes another laugh from the Stark Industries CEO. “Don’t go getting all high and mighty. It’s only one compared to the countless meetings you’ve skipped. FRIDAY, let Helen Cho know that Tony’s awake.”

“She’s here?”

“When we found out you had gone somewhere with your suit, we knew we would need someone who could keep a secret.”

“How long had I been out?”

“About a day. Vision found you at that bunker and flew a quinjet he found there back here.”

“What about Rogers and Barnes?”

Her eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “They were there? Is that why you went in your suit?”

That complicates things a bit more, but he can do something about them and whoever helped them later.

“Never mind,” he shakes his head. “How’s Rhodey?”

“We’ll be talking about Rogers later. Don’t think I’ll forget. James is being treated by Cho’s staff. That’s the reason we’re giving for her being back, as well as to check up on the injuries you’ve more than likely been hiding from the normal doctors.”

“But, how is he?”

He can see it in Pepper’s eyes, before even says anything.

“It’s bad. They’re doing their best, but… Tony, they don’t think he’ll be able to walk again.”

Her words hit him, and the heart monitor spikes. Suddenly, he’s finding it hard to breath, and Pepper’s hand is in his.

“Tony,” her voice tries to force its way through the haze of his mind. “Stay with me. I know what you’re thinking, and don’t go there. He’s alive, and so are you. He’s safe.”

She keeps running circles on his hand and arm, whispering calming words into his ear until his heart rate goes back down. As it does, the door is thrown open, with Helen Cho and two other doctors on the other side. The couple in the room jumps at the sudden entrance.

Taking stock of the room, the slightly panicking trio of medical personnel calm down slightly.

“What happened?” Helen demands. “His heart-rate suddenly spiked.”

“Rhodey,” Pepper says.

The experienced doctor’s face turns to a look of resigned understanding.

“Stark,” she sighs. “You really have to stop doing this to me. Colonel Rhodes is fine. Your injuries were actually more concerning than his were.”

“He’s paralyzed Cho,” Tony frowns, almost glaring.

“But after the initial treatment, his life wasn’t in any danger,” she counters. “You, on the other hand, have countless preexisting injuries and health concerns that your fight with Steve Rogers, followed by being left in a cold Siberian bunker only aggravated.”

“Rogers did this?!” Pepper turns her face back towards Tony.

“How’d you come to that conclusion?” Stark, now fully glaring at Cho, asks.

“Your most recent injuries that can’t be accounted for from the airport fight are all from major blunt force trauma. We also had to cut you out of most of the suit, as my staff and I don’t have the admin privileges to access your suit and Ms. Potts hadn’t arrived yet. The blows and damage to your suit, especially to the housing for the arc reactor, are a perfect match for the Captain’s shield.” She looks at the seething Stark Industries CEO. “Let my people do their checkup. Then, we can leave so you can interrogate him.”

Cho must still hold a grudge for the Ultron incident, because she doesn’t take very long in her checkup. All the while, Pepper is staring a hole in Tony’s head. Finally, the doctors are gone, leaving him alone with his angry girlfriend. She just sits there, still glaring, expectant. Resigned to his fate, Tony Stark lets out a breath.

“Barnes killed my parents.”

There’s a flicker of shock on her face as he makes that statement, but she waits for him to continue.

“Cap knew about it.”

With that, the flood doors are open. He goes into the entire story, going from the grieving mom at the September Foundation to the meeting about the Accords to the fight at the airport and ending in Siberia. It takes a lot longer than he was expecting, and he’s completely drained afterwards. Pepper is frowning.

“Wow,” she breathes. “That’s a lot.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through it alone.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” she glaring again. “I should’ve been there. I should’ve helped you along the way.”

“You’re here now,” Tony assures her.

“Yes. I am. Get some rest. I’ll be working on a few things. We’ll talk when you’ve actually gotten to a functioning level.”

He wants to protest, but one look from her has him obediently relaxing back in the hospital bed. God, he missed her.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark, a normal human, gets the shit beat out of him and has his suit deactivated, and he just walks away from it like it's nothing? Nope, I don't buy it. He gets rest and medical attention just like any other middle aged dude with health problems. Happy can deal with Peter like he did on the way to the fight. You can't tell me otherwise.
> 
> I don't hate Steve Rogers. I understand most of his assessments and decisions in Civil War, even if I don't agree with all of them. This fic might lean a bit towards Team Iron-man, but Tony will get his fair share of call-outs for his decisions, because he's got quite a few glaring ones.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper makes Tony see a few of his errors and a few of Cap's as well.

Chapter 2  
It takes another day before he’s cleared enough to walk out of the med bay. No strenuous exercise, but he’s allowed to walk to the conference room where his girlfriend is waiting. As he goes inside, the sight he sees is one that makes him fear and fall in love with her all over again.

At the end of the table are multiple stacks of papers, and the CEO of Stark Industries with her business face on. She looks at him with a serious expression that shows that he obviously did something wrong. Not even needing to be told, he sits down at the closest seat.

“I printed out everything just so that you can understand how much we need to go over,” she tells him. “I can work on some, as it isn’t as pressing a concern for you. Mostly just reparations and funding for cleanup efforts. I, however, think it’s most fitting to,” she slides a document across the table. “Start with this.”

“The Sokovia Accords,” Tony sighs as he read the title. “Yeah, I guess it would be. What about it?”

“Did you read the document before signing it?”

The billionaire looks up at her. “Of course, I did. I wouldn’t sign something like this if I hadn’t.”

“Are you sure?” She raises a doubting eyebrow. “Or did you do what you normally do when you’re going through something and being forced to make a big decision?”

“And what, exactly, is that, Ms. Potts?”

“Take a quick glance through it to make sure it had all of the parts you wanted in it, not take anyone else’s opinions into account, and assume that you can just iron out any flaws that come from the decision at a later date.”

Tony Stark, genius, opens his mouth only to have nothing come out of it. He tries again. Nothing. As her words hit him, he plops his head on the table.

“Fuck.”

“Your first homework assignment is to read this,” she stands up and pats the document softly. “Thoroughly. Take notes, too. There will be a test later.”

She saunters out, leaving Tony to his assignment.

***

“I fucked up.”

It’s close to the end of the day, when Pepper Potts walks back into the room for a fourth time. She could tell he was focused on reading, because he not only didn’t acknowledge her the other times, but he even absentmindedly ate the food she brought him. This is the first thing she’s heard from him the entire time.

“This thing,” he throws the offending papers back onto the table. “I don’t even want to call it a document. It’s terrible. Sure, it’s got accountability for the Avengers, and clauses for quick action; but the stuff about non-Avenger enhanced. It’s basically a new Nazi manifesto. And I signed it. I fucking promoted it,” he places his head in his hand. “Cap was right. This thing is a wreck.”

“Tony,” Pepper sighs. “I’m glad you understand what you did wrong, but I need you to understand something else,” she sits down next to him. “Just because one decision is wrong, doesn’t mean the opposite of it is right. Yes, you should’ve done a better job of reading the document, but FRIDAY gave me the recordings of the conversations you’ve had with Steve, and he did just as good a job at reading and listening as you did.” She pulls him into a hug. “It’s partially my fault, too. You were alone for this whole thing. Rhodey was with the Avengers, and Happy isn’t the best at this type of stuff. You were guilt ridden and vulnerable, and I should’ve been there for you. Now, though, we need to do what we can to fix this.”

He slides himself out of her grip, calmer than he was before. “What’s next?”

“The first, and probably easiest, step,” she hands him her tablet. “Is making sure that the fourteen-year-old that you blackmailed into being a child soldier doesn’t get arrested by the government.”

“I didn’t blackmail him,” said blackmailer frowns.

“You manipulated him into joining you in Germany and threatened to tell his aunt when he refused,” she counter, slight glare on her face. “Then, you had Happy drop him off at home with a multi-million-dollar suit, enabling him to continue with a dangerous and illegal activity without the knowledge or permission of his legal guardian.”

The superhero’s face falls again.

“Tony,” Pepper chuckles. “Your heart is in the right place, but you’re terrible at handling children.”

“He’s fourteen,” the man flounders.

“A child,” she presses. “And you also gave another, even younger, child a high-powered weapon for helping you out during the Mandarin incident and told him to use it on his bullies. They aren’t just smaller adults, Tony. And right now, one of them has broken, and is still breaking, international law for you, and he probably doesn’t even know it.”

“So,” Tony Stark nods, accepting his guilt. “We amend the Accords to make it so that his little crime-fighting escapades aren’t a violation of them, and we keep Ross of his back until that happens.”

“And after that. We sit him and his aunt down and tell her about what he’s been doing.”

“Pep-!”

“Nope,” she cuts him off. “As his legal guardian, she has a right to know. If he’s anything like you, he’s going to get himself hurt doing this. And, if she lets him continue it, you will be giving him an actual internship to make sure that he’s properly equipped. You got him into the big leagues, and you’ll be making sure he doesn’t get killed while he’s there.”

***

He reads through the letter, flipping the phone open and closed in a nervous habit. He reads it, and reads it again. He sighs. He looks up as the door to his office as it swings open.

“Rhodey said you got a package.”

Pepper walks calmly inside, concern etched on her face.

“Here,” he hands her the letter. “It’s from Steve.”

The frown deepens as she hears that, then grows even more as she reads.

“This isn’t an apology. He’s just making excuses every time he remotely says anything apologetic. Trying to push everything onto you. He’s not even trying to take accountability for his actions. The Avengers aren’t even active anymore, with you and Rhodey recovering and Vision and T’Challa still undergoing review.”

“But he’s right. I did mess up.”

“And you know that, and you’re admitting that right now. He obviously also knows he made mistakes. The only difference is that he’s not trying to fix them, just forget about them,” she looks at the phone in his hand. “That’s from him, right? You would never be caught dead with such an older phone. He’s right about one thing, we might need to get in contact.” She purses her lips. “We should keep the phone somewhere safe. I’m keeping the letter. Just,” she sighs. “I know you messed up, but trying to fix things is how you make it up to the people who you’ve wronged, but this,” she waves the paper. “This is just a non-apology.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony "You can take my suits out of my cold, dead hands" Stark, would not completely give control of any sort of powerful weapon over to the government. Including, but not limited to, potential human weapons. That is one character flaw I see in the movie. He is, however, shown on multiple occasions to make stupid and reckless decisions during traumatic moments in his life.
> 
> The biggest thing I can actually fault Tony for in the movie is bringing a kid, whether enhanced or not, into a battle against Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He will be called out on multiple occasions, by multiple people, for this thoughtless decision throughout the fic.
> 
> Both sides of the Civil War argument sucked at talking things over. They let their emotions control them, and they didn't think things through very much.
> 
> Steve Roger's letter never sat well with me. He takes away more than half of the Avengers and then says that they were Tony's family. He always tries to justify his actions despite knowing what he did was wrong. Most of the letter sounds like it's trying to make Tony feel guilty if he doesn't forgive Steve. Yeah, I can tell Steve is at least a bit sorry for what he's done, but that entire thing was a terrible way of trying to show it.
> 
> Comment and Kudos. Don't be mean.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark gets a few more gray hairs, and tries to come to terms with his guilt and lack of understanding of willful teenagers. In other words, Spider-man: Homecoming.

Chapter 3

“Fuck, Pep. What was I supposed to do? He hacked the suit and took out a god damned ferry.”

“From what I could tell, that was the flying guy that did it.”

“You mean the one in charge of the alien weapons trade that I specifically told him to stay away from.”

“Did you tell him why he needed to stay away from it?”

“I told him that it was too dangerous for him, and I was going to get someone on it, and I did. I called the FBI and gave them the footage and information collected from the suit.”

“And you made sure to tell him when you told the FBI, right?”

Tony pauses for a moment, looking up from the coding displayed on the screen. “No? Should I have?”

“Tony,” she sighs. “Remember how I told you that you can’t treat kids the same as adults. Well, you can’t treat them like they work for you either. You have to keep them informed and make sure that they know that you’re listening to them, especially when it’s something serious like this. He probably just thought you were blowing him off like the messages and voicemails that you or Happy never seem to respond to, even though I know you listen to them in your spare time.”

It takes him a few moments to process that. “So, I shouldn’t have taken the suit?”

“You should have told him why you had those safeguards in place, and you shouldn’t have made them easy enough for a high schooler to access and take down, no matter how smart they are.”

“What should I do, then?”

“Apologize. Explain yourself, and actually treat him like you care about his wellbeing, because I know you do.”

“Fine,” the man concedes. “The initial amendments to the Accords are almost done. I can give him the suit back then. It’ll take some time to fix the coding,” he waves at the screen in front of him. “No actual damage during the hack, but you’re right that I should make it a little more secure. After that, I can invite him to the lab or something. He should like that, right?”

“I think he’d enjoy that,” she smiles softly at him. “But don’t forget that we’re telling his aunt after this, too.”

Tony scrolls through the coding a bit more, before barking out a sudden laugh. “Hey! He named the AI Karen!”

***

“Happy? What are you doing calling so late...? Wait, slow down… He did what? I’m on my way.”

Pepper leans up in the bed as he scrambles out. “What’s happening?”

“The kid crashed my jet.”

That wakes her up. “What? Please tell me I heard that wrong.”

“The Vulture tried to jack my weapons’ transport, and the kid stopped him in his homemade pajama suit. Dammit, I need to go. Happy can deal with cleanup, but the kid is probably injured like all hell. FRI-.”

“Suit already prepped, boss.”

“Thanks, babygirl. Can you get some of Doctor Cho’s medical staff? Kid’s got this thing about secret identities, but he just came out of a plane crash so I don’t think that’s the priority right now.”

“I’ll get a statement ready for the crash,” she starts getting out of bed. “Just make sure he’s safe.”

***

Tony Stark steps out of the med bay. His face is stinging and no doubt red, but he probably deserves that one. Strike that, he definitely deserves that one. Who knew Doctor Cho had such a good arm?

Pepper is waiting in front of the doors, while Happy paces in the hall, talking frantically into his phone. He was yelling, but a quick look from Helen had him lowering his voice to a more reasonable level. As the door closes behind his boss, he turns to look. Pepper looks up from typing on her tablet. Both of them expectant, hoping for good news.

“He’s okay,” the billionaire let’s out a heavy sigh of relief.

He crumples into Pepper as she and Happy both relax in just as large a degree. Pepper guides the two of them over to the waiting chairs.

“I found him on the Coney Island Cyclone,” he explains. “He passed out right after I got there. Multiple lacerations and stab wounds along his torso and arms, as well as severe blunt force trauma, fractures, and his muscles were overexerted. Cho says that his healing factor is taking care of most of the serious injuries, and we’re lucky that his enhancements are similar enough to Cap’s that the painkillers work on him without any lasting side effects. He’s unconscious right now, and he’ll have to be on observation for the next few days, but he’ll make a full recovery.” He rubs the side of his face. “The good doctor also had some strong words and a fast-moving hand for me after she figured out Spider-man’s age.”

“Speaking of which, you’ll probably get another handprint tonight. I’m calling his aunt,” Pepper pulls out her phone. “Happy, you go to there apartment and get her.”

The Forehead of Security is already out the door by the time Pepper has the number pulled up. He’s no doubt going to be breaking at least a few driving laws on his way there.

***

Did she have to slap him on the same side? He knows this is going to swell up, and he doesn’t have a healing factor to help him cover up injuries from the press. He’ll have to either claim lab accident or stay out of the public eye for a while. Happy got one, too, after his crime of ignoring the kid’s communications and the most recent call from his friend was brought to light. Tony feels a bit smug about that, even though he knows he shouldn’t.

Pepper’s in there right now, smoothing things over. Peter’s grounded no doubt, and maybe banned from Spider-man, but the CEO of Stark Industries should be able to keep Tony out of a child endangerment lawsuit. Might even give him visitation rights to help the kid with science stuff. What can he say? The messages he was leaving and the footage he got from Karen were both kind of endearing, and his IQ is pretty high up there if his web fluid and little escape from the DODC storage is any indication. Finally, his wonderful girlfriend exits the room, about as exhausted as he would expect.

“So,” Tony starts. “What’s the verdict?”

“They’re having a heart to heart,” she gives a sad, but soft, smile. “A lot of emotional baggage was building up between them. I thought it was best to give them the room.”

“I don’t want to sound insensitive,” Tony says slowly. “I really don’t this time, but my curiosity is too much. So, about the kid’s extracurriculars…”

“Oh,” her smile turns amused. “He’s banned from Spider-man for as long as his aunt deems appropriate. After a bit of back and forth between the two, she’s agreed to let him continue it once they’ve set some ground rules and she feels like she won’t have a heart attack every time she sees him on the news.”

“Did you mention the internship?”

“Yes, and as soon as I convinced her it would be an actually internship and laid out the rough guidelines, she agreed to it. I’ll be going to his school with her to officially turn in the paperwork. I’ll need FRIDAY to help me make it look like the process had already gone through a few months ago, but they shouldn’t look too deep. He will, however, be shadowing me for the first few weeks, as you will be grounded from any sort of lab work during that time.”

This throws the billionaire for a loop, as he starts sputtering in shock.

“What?” He whines a bit.

“It was part of the agreement,” Pepper explains. “You were partially at fault for bringing him to Germany and then pretty much ignoring him afterwards. Happy is receiving his own punishment for his role in this incident.”

The man blinks a couple of times. “Yeah, that’s fair. Don’t have to like it, though.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to,” her smile grows even more. Then, her pensive frown comes back. “There is a problem, though. The Vulture happens to be a man named Adrian Toomes. Ironically, he’s the step-father of Elizabeth Allen. She was Peter’s homecoming date. That’s how he got wind of the plane robbery. The issue is that Peter says that Mr. Toomes knows his identity. He figured it out and threatened him with it. Something will need to be done about that.”

She hands him a tablet. On it is the face of a man who, in any other circumstance, wouldn’t really be picked out of any crowd. Only thing that really sets him apart are his broad shoulders and shaved head. Tony looks through the workup that Pepper has assembled on the guy.

“He went from construction and scrap removal to weapons dealing,” Tony reads. “That’s an interesting career flip.”

“From what I’ve been able to gather in the past few hours, with FRIDAY’s help, he was one of the contractors that were originally hired for cleanup of the Battle of New York. When the DODC stepped in, he was pushed out and he had to make up the costs for renting the equipment.”

“Why didn’t he apply for the certifications and clearances needed? I specifically streamlined the process and made the fees for it cheap enough for the average company and contractors to be able to afford.”

The CEO sucks in a breath through her cheeks. “There was an incident when he was told about the DODC taking over. He didn’t take it well. Most of the witnesses say that he was provoked, and no charges were filed, but he was reported to have assaulted one of the agents. With the assault of DODC personnel on file…”

“His application would’ve been denied whether he wanted to be hired on our not,” Stark finishes. “The suit who got hit probably had it coming, too. Dammit.” He takes a few deep breaths to calm himself. “He still knows Peter’s secret, so I have to go visit him. And while I’m at it, with this whole owning up to the mistakes I’ve made, I might as well see if I can clear the air a bit.”

***

“Well. If it isn’t the great Tony Stark. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Both adults, both former weapons dealers, both sitting in private room on opposite sides of a bolted down table. Adrian Toomes has his hands cuffed to the desk.

“I’ve isolated this room from all monitoring and communication tech, so we can speak freely,” Tony tells the man. “And you should already know why I’m here.”

“Trying to figure out how I robbed your plane? Would’ve expected a genius like yourself to get to the bottom of that without the help of a commoner like me.”

Tony scoffs at that. “Already figured that out. Pretty ingenious. At least, with the tech and resources you had available; but I’m not here for that. I’m more concerned about the person who stopped. Now,” the Avenger glares. “Who have you told?”

A bit of surprise registers on the Vulture face before he blinks a couple of times. Then, he bursts into laughter.

“That’s why you’re here?” He chuckles. “For the kid? The one that you didn’t pay attention to unless it publicly affected you? The one that you up and abandoned after a few mistakes? That kid? You’re actually worried about him?”

Hearing those comments from a convicted felon puts a bit more sting on them, but the billionaire manages to stay calm.

“Yes, that kid. The one that you apparently dropped into the Hudson, collapsed a warehouse on top of, and nearly killed while fighting him at the beach.”

“After which,” Toomes cuts in. “He nearly died saving me when my wings overloaded and I almost burned to death in the fire from the plane crash. That, and the fact that he saved my daughter’s life, wouldn’t sit well with me if I told anyone his little secret.”

That throws Stark for a loop. “So, you haven’t told anyone?”

“No, and I don’t plan to. Even if I ever make it out of here, I’ll be the only one who knows. As much as I’d love to drag your name through the mud for recruiting a kid, his secret is safe.”

They meet each other’s eyes for a few moments, and Tony Stark can feel the sincerity of it. Convenient, Peter’s first villain is one of the few with a conscience and the balls to back it up.

“Thank you,” Tony rubs his temples. “Now that that’s over and done with, there’s one more thing left.”

“And what’s that?”

“I’m sorry.”

There’s a pause as Adrian processes what was just said. “What?”

“I am apologizing,” Tony explains slowly. “It doesn’t come easy to me, but I am at least partially responsible for this mess. You’re one of many people I’ve inconvenienced in trying to do the right thing. It’s been going around lately, as have the apologies. Any actions you’ve taken afterwards are your own fault, but there is still the role I played at the beginning. That’s what I’m apologizing for.”

“I got an apology from Tony Stark,” the criminal preens. “Bet not very many people can say that.”

“Yeah, well,” Tony stands up. “It’s not on record, and you’re still an ass who went directly for the majorly illegal option during a hardship. By the way, I’ll also be keeping an eye on your family for you. They don’t deserve to suffer just because of two egotistical men fucking up their lives.”

“They wouldn’t want your free handouts,” Toomes glares. “And I don’t need your charity.”

“It won’t be free. It’ll just be a little push for them. They’ll need it once your name makes national news. If I have any pull in the jobs your wife applies to, she’ll get in without having to worry about your bad name. Your daughter is also sending in college applications soon. I’ll help put her at the top of the list and have a couple of decent letters of recommendation for her from a few well-known people. It’ll help ease my conscience, and my intern also feels bad about ditching her at Homecoming.”

The superhero walks out of the room, reactivating the monitoring systems and signaling for the guards to take the man away.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said before, one of the things I'm salty about with him is recruiting a kid and then basically abandoning him to a man who couldn't seem to care less about the young hero. Happy was a pretty big dick during the entire thing.
> 
> His actions and words during the movie were also out of line in a lot of different ways, and just plain demeaning towards Peter, despite the kid's mistakes. I didn't mention all of them, mostly because they don't play much of a role and Tony wouldn't think to bring it up either.
> 
> He's going to get called out on it a few more times by a couple more people that he'll accept the criticism from, and a few that he might not.
> 
> I don't care how good your healing factor is, getting a warehouse dropped on you, crashing a plane, and fighting against a weaponized Vulture suit will leave enough injuries for major medical attention to be required.
> 
> Finally, Peter will not be getting an offer to be on the Avengers. He is a teenager, and Pepper Potts should have the logic needed to tell Tony why that idea is up there with giving terrorists your home address, not telling people you're dying from palladium poisoning, and a giant stuffed bunny as a gift.
> 
> Comments and Kudos. Don't be mean.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A familiar face reappears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your comments and thoughts about this. I really like reading them.

Chapter 4

“I’ve gotten most of Europe onboard with the next round of amendments for the Accords.”

“Really?” Tony looks at his fiancé as they walk down the halls of the Compound. “What turned them?”

“They finally got to the point where they realized what the tracking bracelets and indefinite confinement for the enhanced reminded them of. The German public seems particularly outraged at this parallel. How’re things stateside?”

They walk into the kitchen as Tony responds. “There’s something similar going on here. It’s actually an interesting combination of the older and younger generations. You know, the ones who grew up on stories of World War II from their parents, and the ones that have been pushing for major reforms due to racial inequality. Those Watchdogs, although it’s terrible what they’re doing, are actually showing the lack of care the government actually shows towards its enhanced citizens. Protests against the enhanced registrations and plenty of other aspects of the Accords are popping up all over. It’s slow going, but I think we’ll make progress.”

“It’s about time, too.” Another voice sounds in the kitchen.

The CEO and CTO whip around. Tony places himself between the voice and Pepper while his gauntlet forms around his hand pointing at the kitchen table.

Sitting calmly in her normal chair sipping a steaming mug of hot chocolate is Natasha Romanoff.

“The fuck are you doing here, double-agent?” Stark growls at the woman.

“I live here,” she takes another sip of her drink.

“Last time I checked, you’re a war criminal. Now get the fuck out of here before I blast you into the wall and call the authorities.”

“T’Challa withdrew his statement about my involvement in Captain America’s escape,” she tells him. “Since I’m not enhanced, now they can’t legally do anything to me. I’m not their favorite person, and I’m not on the active roster as an Avenger, but I’m still someone who signed the Accords.”

“Fat lot of meaning that signature has,” the man snorts back. “If you’re just going to go against it on a whim.”

“If I hadn’t done that, then Barnes would be dead, and the King of Wakanda would’ve killed a man for a crime he didn’t commit. Not to mention whatever reaction Steve might’ve had to it.”

“We already know what Steve’s reaction to it would’ve been.” Tony Stark grips his left arm, eyes clouding over. “Just stay the fuck away from me, Romanoff. I’ve already got enough knives in my back.”

With that, the couple leaves the room. Natasha just sits there. Curiosity, and a little concern, flicker across her face.

***

“Thought I told you to leave me alone, double-agent.”

“Here.” Natasha sets a manila folder on Tony’s desk.

“And what is this?”

“Evidence of enhanced human trafficking and the corporate and political supporters that are funding and hiding it.”

Stark opens the folder and slides out the papers inside. Shaking it again, a flash drive falls onto the pile.

He looks up at her. “What do you want?”

She doesn’t beat around the bush. “Siberia. What happened? I know Vision picked you up injured to all hell, and I know Steve was involved. Was it the other Winter Soldiers? Did Barnes get triggered again?”

“Why don’t you go and ask Rogers?”

“You know,” she sighs. “Despite what every person in any sort of authoritative position seems to think, I haven’t been with the ‘Rogue Avengers’ these past few months. I think I know where they are and have been, but I’ve been a bit busy stopping human traffickers and exposing corrupt politicians.”

“And what makes you think I’d tell you anything? We aren’t exactly on the best of terms.”

“Because the world needs the Avengers, and knowing what happened there will help bring them back together.”

“I don’t want them back!” Tony stands up. “Do you think I want someone who I can’t trust to have my back in a fight?! Someone who doesn’t even seem to care about the lives lost in the wars we wage?! Someone who’s able to look me in the eyes and tell me that we ‘don’t keep secrets’ while holding onto the truth about my parents’ murders?!”

Natasha actually takes a step back at this, her normally impassive feature flickering to shock, and then realization.

“That’s what happened, isn’t it? You found out.”

“You knew?” Tony sees the look on her face. He snorts. “Of course, you knew. What? Was the rest of the team in on it, too? Didn’t think to tell me, or just didn’t care?”

“Get off your high horse, Stark,” she glares back. “You think I knew you weren’t told? Yeah, I knew about it. Steve and I learned about it during the fall of SHIELD. We never talked about telling you, sure. I didn’t think we needed to. In case you hadn’t noticed, I was a little busy at the time trying to stop us from being convicted for dumping government secrets onto the public servers.”

“And after, huh?” He keeps going. “Didn’t think to check in with him. ‘Did you tell Tony about his parents?’ ‘Does Stark know that your best friend murdered his mom and dad?’”

“It must have slipped my mind while my whole entire world was falling apart around me!” She raises her voice. “SHIELD was my home! The agents were my family! I thought I’d been working to clear up the red on my ledger! Instead, I’d just been soaking it more! And now I’m trying to get what’s left of my family back! And trying to get them back to their families! Have you for a moment even thought about Lang and Clint?! About them being separated from their loved ones?!”

“Of course, I have,” Stark huffs. He slides a tablet across the desk. “I’ve been working on getting them a plea deal. Three of the people on Cap’s team weren’t enhanced, which means those pieces of shit on the Accords Council don’t really care as much about them. Wilson was with Cap when they fought the people going after Barnes, but Lang and Barton were only at the airport. I played on what few heartstrings some of them might have with Lang’s family angle, but I can’t actually do that with Barton without exposing that he even has a family.”

“Laura gave me permission,” Natasha tells him. “Before I came here, I took a trip to the farm. She’s put a lot of thought into it and thinks it’s time to make it publicly known.”

“That makes things easier. They’re pulling for five years of house arrest. I think I can get it down to two. Anymore would probably be pushing it.”

“We’ll need to be able to contact them,” she points out. “Let them know it isn’t a trap.”

The phone in Tony’s pocket gets heavier, but he ignores the feeling. “I have a few theories about where they went. Nothing concrete. Might not even be there anymore if they were, but a few words in the right ear should let them know that the deals are legit.”

“Alright,” she nods. He eyes soften a bit. “And Stark. I am sorry. About you not knowing. I can understand how it feels, at least a little. If someone kept information about my parents from me, I don’t know what I would have done.”

He takes a deep breath before meeting her gaze. “Did you even agree with me, about the Accords? Or was it just some ploy? You know, your normal super spy maneuvering.”

“I signed the Accords because I wasn’t going to let someone else dictate my life,” she starts. “Not anymore. ‘One hand on the wheel.’ Like I said. I wanted to have some form of control over the direction the document would go. I agree with you that the Avengers need some form of check. Something that can help bridge the gap between us and the public.” Her gaze intensifies. “But if you think for a second that I would ever trust a document that the people it directly affects had no hand in drafting. One that they’d only give three days to read over and attempt to understand before signing. One presented to us by the man that hunted down Bruce for years like an animal. Stark, I agree with your thought process, your vision, but I never agreed with this piece of shit that was on the desk in that conference room.”

“Well,” he slides the tablet closer. “We have a lot of work to do then. Take a seat, read over the new amendments, and put your two cents in.”

She complies as he looks down at his own screen. A small smile shows on her face as she starts reading.

“Got it, Tony.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Natasha. What her choices are aside, I feel like she's the least controlled by her emotions than anyone in the movies. Whether that's good or bad depends on the situation, but I still like her as a character.
> 
> With the writers so heavily focused on the familial side of her, I feel like she wouldn't agree with keeping the truth about Tony's parents a secret.
> 
> I'll be focusing on her and her point of view about as much as Tony. There are a few thoughts about her character that I want to expound on.
> 
> This chapter seems a bit Captain America Critical. That's because it's from one side of the argument. I have said before that one of the few things that I hold against Cap with his personality and experiences is him not telling Stark about his parents. That's pretty much it, though. The rest I can sort of understand.
> 
> On the topic of the team. Even if I were to bring them back, it probably won't be the same. Especially not at first. A lot of bad blood, old wounds, and trust issues would need to be resolved for that to happen.
> 
> Comments and Kudos. Don't be mean.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Spiders meet. Tony gets hit again.

Chapter 5

Nat stomps into the lab, mouth set in a frown, murder in her eyes. Tony barely gets out of his chair before a fist comes in contact with his face sending him back into his seat.

“A KID?! Really, Tony?! You brought a kid into this?!”

He rubs the side of his face, moving his jaw to assure himself that she didn’t dislocate anything.

“I guess you met Peter,” he finally answers.

“Yes,” she hisses. “I met Peter. I met the overexcited teenager that you brought into a fucking war.”

“He was doing this before I brought him in,” he argues back. “I just gave him a suit to protect himself.”

“He was bike thieves and purse snatchers,” she counters. “You think I’d never heard of Spider-man? The kid helps get cats out of trees and gives directions to tourists. What he didn’t do was take out alien weapons dealers and crash your transport plane. That was, of course, until you decided to turn him into a child soldier and sent him into a fight that he had no business being in.”

“You want to talk about child soldiers?” Tony stands up again. “What about you and Cap with Wanda, huh? She’s a full-fledged Avenger.”

“Wanda’s an adult. She might be a little immature about some things, but she’s over eighteen and capable of making her own decisions.”

“Tell that to Cap. He seems to think that she’s a kid and an Avenger.”

“Fine. That’ll be something else I’ll address when I see him again, but we’re not talking about him right now. We’re talking about you, and bringing a fourteen-year-old kid into a fight with trained fighters and assassins.”

“They were holding back!”

“You had him go up against Barnes! Someone who you still thought was responsible for bombing the Accords signing! And even I can see the kid’s stupid morale code of not killing. What would’ve happened if it would’ve been him who tried to stop T’Challa instead of me? Do you think for a moment Ross or the other Council members would’ve let him go?”

“Why do you think I spent the months after that getting those specific amendments passed. The kid is safe now. He’s got my backing, and I take responsibility for what he does. Police, Feds, they can’t touch him.”

“You’re still a dick for bringing him into the fight.”

“And I’ve been told that on multiple occasions.” Tony rubs his cheek. “You hit the hardest out of all of them, though.”

Natasha frowns in thought for a few moments, thinking things over.

“I’m training him.”

The answer is immediate. “No.”

“Is he going to stop?”

“No. Believe me, I tried. Kid’s stubborn.”

“Then I’m training him.”

“I already train him. We go over suit specs and different tech he might find out there. I give him combat and acrobatic simulations. We go over his limits and enhancements. I’ve had Cho, grudgingly, synthesize a painkiller for when he gets injured.”

“And what about reconnaissance? Interrogation? Hand to hand combat? Actual field experience? Huh, Tony? Think you can give him that? He’s not an Avenger. He’s a vigilante. He’ll be doing things that you have absolutely no understanding of. Clear parts of his training schedule for me and tell him I’ll be going out with him on his little jaunts, or whatever they are.”

“Patrols,” Stark cuts in. “He calls them patrols.”

“Well, I’m going on them. I’m going to make sure that if he doesn’t want to stop that he also doesn’t die from not being prepared for what’s out there.”

***

“Alright, kid. What is it?”

Spider-man looks up at the Black Widow next to him on the roof. They’re currently snacking on some pretty good sandwiches from a shop down the road. Natasha already knows from Steve about the metabolism that comes from physical enhancements, and the Little Spider across from her tends to be familiar with those drawbacks, too.

“What?” The kid asks.

“You’ve had something you’ve wanted to ask me for the past week,” she answers. “And it’s probably something you see as important or personal, seeing as you didn’t seem to mind the rapid-fire questions you had when we met.”

The young vigilante takes another bite of his sandwich. A stalling tactic, Nat notices. She also notes the resigned look in his body posture. Meaning-

“When the SHIELD dump happened, my friend Ned and I looked at it,” he starts. “We didn’t get very far, some of the stuff where we found the information was scary, and we were a lot younger at the time. We did find a lot of stuff on Iron-man, though. We were kind of obsessed with him back then. He kind of saved my life during the Hammer Drone attack on the Stark Expo, so we wanted to see SHIELD’s point of view on the whole thing.”

“Ah,” the spy nods, understanding dawning on her face.

“I read your report on him. About Iron-man being part of the Avengers, but not Tony Stark.”

“And you want to know why I put that.”

“No,” he shakes his head. “I’ve read news reports from before the Avengers. I’ve seen how he acts around people he doesn’t know. May didn’t like me looking up to him when I was younger. He still isn’t her favorite person.”

“That might have to do with taking you to Germany.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he grins slightly. “But you know him better now, right? Would you change anything about your report; if you wrote it again?”

Natasha sit back, thinking about how she’s going to put this.

“Kid, do you know what the Avengers Initiative was?”

“Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, right?”

She shakes her head. “That’s what the Avengers are now, but the Initiative itself was different. It was supposed to be a task-force, under SHIELD control, filled with elite individuals that had been thoroughly vetted to work seamlessly with each other in order fight against threats that normal people couldn’t. I was sent in to infiltrate Stark Industries and report back my findings on Tony. Whether or not he fit the bill.”

She sighs, taking a bite of her own sandwich. She chews it over a little longer than she would need to usually.

“Tony Stark thinks that he’s responsible for the world. That he can fix all of the wrongs in the world on his own. It’s something that he and Steve have in common, but it’s also incredibly narcissistic. He was dying of palladium poisoning, but instead of telling anyone about it, he believed he was better suited to finding a solution on his own. He pushed people away instead of seeking their help. He was so used to working alone and being the smartest guy in the room that it’s incredibly difficult to get him to listen to anyone that he doesn’t see as intelligent. His suit was an amazing feat of engineering, one that, through Colonel Rhodes, had been shown to be operational by other people with practice. He wasn’t a team player, though. And he was already known to disobey orders and go off script on a whim. So, yes, at the time, he wasn’t approved for the Initiative.” She takes a sip of her soda. “At least, that’s what he was like back then.”

“Then why did you guys call him when Loki invaded?”

“We were desperate. We weren’t expecting it to happen, and Clint, one of the people approved for the Initiative, had been compromised. Tony and Bruce had already been checked out and weren’t approved, too volatile, but we needed them for their strengths and their intelligence in order to track the Tesseract. Not even Steve, Captain America himself, had been entirely approved. He was too prone to disobeying orders or going off on his own when it suited him. We never considered Thor because we had no idea where his loyalties were other than that he had a connection to Doctor Selvig and Doctor Foster. We didn’t even call him in. He tried to take Loki from us after we captured him and just tagged along after.” She snorts at the memory. “We weren’t a team. I think Bruce said that we were a ‘time bomb.’ Good description actually, but we found common ground through a tragedy that happened that day. We fought together against a common enemy. We became the Avengers, even if it wasn’t the same as what SHIELD expected, or wanted.”

She looks back at him, snapping out of her memories. His lips are pressed together thoughtfully.

“Tony has changed, by the way,” she tells him. “Gotten a bit better, but he’s still not a soldier, or an agent. He still takes too much on himself, and he still has trouble listening and working with others. If I had to write that report again, some of the words and descriptions might change, but he was never suited for SHIELD or the Avengers Initiative. He does, however, make a good Avenger.”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With Nat's memories of the Red Room, she would be adamantly against any sort of child soldier recruitment. It's why I don't think she considered Wanda a kid when it came to her being on the Avengers. A little sister, maybe, but still an adult. Peter, on the other hand, would set off the maternal side of her that showed when they introduced Clint's kids in Age of Ultron. I also love fics where Nat and Peter bond in some form, so there is that.
> 
> Despite what some people may think about its negative portrayal, the report that she wrote in Iron-man 2 was pretty accurate based upon the Tony Stark at that time. I even hated it at first, but then I started considering how he acted around people he didn't know, which would be the people on whatever team was forming. I also considered what type of organization SHIELD actually is. The loose-cannon nature of the current Avengers just doesn't suit them, so they probably had other ideas of what the Initiative would look like once formed. It's why I put that in there.
> 
> Tony and Cap getting hit for their actions is probably going to be a theme in this story. It's going to be a fun little thing I do to vent my own frustrations towards their stupidity. Maybe a few others will get that treatment, too.
> 
> Comments and Kudos. Don't be mean.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's pull the rug out from under a jerk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have next to no understanding of international law, or even federal law. Please don't be too critical.

Chapter 6

“Well, it’s finally happened.”

Natasha looks up as Tony enters the room, followed closely by Pepper and Rhodey. They all have different degrees of stress and annoyance on their face, which isn’t a good sign at all. Nat puts down the book she’s reading.

“What’s going on Stark?”

“Ross and his friends have gotten sick and tired of us meddling in the Accords. I think us trying to push for the plea deal was the last straw. Sent us a fun little invite for this coming month.”

Pepper hands her own tablet over to Natasha.

“‘Review of Council Members and Signatories,’” the spy reads the title.

“That’s what it says, but he’s obviously going to be singling us out to try to kick us out of anymore discussions on the document,” Rhodey sits down in one of the soft living room chairs. “He’s been using his position in the Presidential Cabinet to try and push forward laws in America that resemble the old Accords, and if he and his other constituents are the only ones on the international stage, it’ll be a lot more difficult for us to block him locally.”

“But,” Pepper starts. “This is also a perfect opportunity for us.”

Tony and Rhodey take a look at the woman, confusion on their faces.

“Look at the title,” Nat smiles. “Really look at it, and what it’s implying. This hearing might just be the best way to fight back, but we need to play our cards right.”

Rhodes understands what they’re getting at a few seconds before Tony. Both of them match the smile of the two others in the room.

“We’ll have to contact T’Challa,” Rhodey tells them. “It won’t be as heavy, what with him being King of Wakanda, but he’ll be in the crossfire. He’ll also be able to help us out with some of this.”

“Natasha and I will prepare our case,” Pepper shoots Tony a small glare. “And you will be following my cues. We don’t need your loose cannon “I am Iron-man” shenanigans this time.”

“Okay, okay,” Iron-man complies. “I’ll get FRIDAY to dig through the SHIELD dump. There’ll definitely be stuff to help us in there, and it’s all public domain now, so they can’t do anything about it.”

“Get Vision to help her,” Nat adds. “And make sure the kid doesn’t do anything too fancy while we’re going through this. We don’t need anything big blowing up in our faces until this is over.”

“He’s coming up to the Compound later this week,” Tony says. “I can talk to him then. I’ll also give his aunt a ring and make sure he stays in the gray area.”

***

“You show a blatant disregard for orders, and have refused to turn over any of your technology and its blueprints for analysis by our scientists.”

“Since the Accords signing, I have shown a very clean record of obeying Council directives and going through the proper channels when using my suit outside of my home country. As for my technology, the Iron Patriot armor is already in United States custody and it is well within the Accords Council’s rights to do whatever they wish with it,” Tony keeps his passive expression that he has maintained throughout his part of the hearing. “However, due to past incidents of my technology ending up in the wrong hands due to the judgement of governmental bodies, I have decided that it is in the world’s best interests that my intellectual property remains private.”

One of the committee members assigned for this hearing glares down at the billionaire. “And what incidents would these be?”

“In 2011, the United States government demanded I hand over the Iron-man suit to them,” Tony starts. “When they were finally able to obtain that suit, they handed it over to Justin Hammer of Hammer Industries. The man then broke a convicted terrorist, Ivan Vanko, out of a high security prison and allowed him access to my suit and their resources in order to make an army of Hammer Drones. These drones then proceeded to destroy the Expo they were presented at, and Vanko, outfitted in his own suit, curtesy of Hammer Tech, joined that battle and had to be fought by me. He then proceeded to detonate these drones, causing billions in damage to the Expo and the other technology and research being presented there, as well as injuring and crippling many of the civilians and scientists who were present at the Expo.”

“Well, Mr. Stark,” the other man coughs. “I understand how that must have felt, but-.”

“I’m not done,” Tony raises up a hand to silence the committee member. “2013, a series of bombings took place throughout the United States. These terrorist attacks were claimed by a man known as the Mandarin. Later, we discovered that they were actually masterminded by a man named Aldrich Killian, who headed Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM. They were government funded, and they were also the next company that the United States had given permission to maintain and upgrade the Iron Patriot armor. After capturing Colonel Rhodes, they then used the armor to kidnap the president and blow up Air Force One. After the entire incident was resolved, there proceeded to be an arrest of the Vice President of the United States, who was cooperating with Killian in the kidnapping.” Stark looks out at all of the other members of the committee. “Despite both of these incidents, I have not asked to have the Iron Patriot armor returned to me. I have, however, demanded that the usage of it be limited to James Rhodes and that the maintenance of the suit be left to me and Stark Industries. The United States government may attempt to duplicate it in any form it wishes to, but I will not be turning my own research and intellectual property over only to have the past two incidents, both of which have put a great amount of danger on the public as well as those close to me, be repeated. If you would like to review the technology used in the suits, you may take that up with the United States government.”

If this were a less serious meeting, Tony probably would’ve taken a page from the kid’s meme filled book and done a mic drop. Be that as it may, him standing there, calm and collected, while a few of the committee members are sputtering or fuming is very satisfying.

***

They don’t really have much to pin on Rhodey. He’s a decorated military man who has followed every one of his orders to the letter. He has given impartial reports of Tony Stark, and has even fought against the man for the sake of the government. Pepper has even less, she’s just a civilian CEO, even if she is one of the most influential women in America. She was really just a character witness, but she talked circles around the old fogies on the committee.

There is also a basic review of some of the actions of a few other people, but nothing big is actually there.

With T’Challa, there was barely anything even attempted on his part. It was mostly demanding vibranium and the technological advances that his country had to offer, but he was able to smoothly shut those down with a few very kingly words. They didn’t want to antagonize the man any further.

Finally, it was Natasha’s turn. She holds up pretty well, countering every accusation with her reasoning and the motivations behind it, as well as the explanations given by her commanding officers for those missions. For the most part, they might not approve of her methods, but each of the countries that are heavily involved in this hearing have done similar things, and with the SHIELD dump showing that evidence, they can’t pin anything heavy enough to get her dismissed by her actions. However, I doubt she’ll be invited to any parties anytime soon.

“Miss Romanov. Your recent actions have shown complete disregard for the document you signed. Do you honestly believe that you can be trusted as a signatory of the Accords?”

“And what, might I ask, are those actions that you are speaking of?”

“During the fight at the airport in Germany, you directly interfered with the capture of a suspected terrorist and assisted in their escape.”

The spy gives a confused look. “I’m afraid I don’t recall that incident. Was there a report filed?”

“Yes, there was.”

“May I see it?”

The committee member frowns. “No, that particular report has since been rescinded, however-.”

“If the report is no longer valid,” the Black Widow frowns. “Why are we attempting to use its contents in a government hearing? Isn’t that against the law?”

“And what of the infamous ‘SHIELD Dump’ that occurred in 2014?” The man moves on.

“I believe that I have already addressed that with the United States government, and you can look back at an actual documented, and still existing, report that I have given to see that.”

Ignoring the jab, the man continues. “But if you are willing to expose anyone’s secrets simply because it benefits you, I do not believe that the Accords Council has any reason to trust you enough to give you a voice or an ear on it.”

“The Accords are supposed to be about transparency,” she stands tall as she addresses the entire committee. “I am concerned about what you believe is needed be hidden if you think that it being exposed would be a detriment to the Council and the document. This is especially true if you believe those secrets to be of equal weight to the exposure of a Nazi terrorist organization that had been infiltrating the United States government since the mid nineteen-hundreds.”

The smirk on her face as she’s dismissed almost causes Stark to start laughing.

***

The committee rises up in their seats.

“I believe that is-.”

“Wait,” Tony Stark stands up in the audience. “There’s still one more issue that needs to be addressed.”

“Mr. Stark,” the man almost sighs. “This meeting is to-.”

“‘Review Council Members and Signatories,’” the philanthropist finishes. “I know, I read the email. You did a good job at that, but you forgot a few members of the Council,” he looks around. “Hell, I don’t even see him here today. That’s not very responsible of him now, is it?”

“And who did you wish for us to review?”

The genius, billionaire, philanthropist smirks. “Thaddeus Ross.”

***

It takes a few days for them to reconvene. Ross was actually doing stuff for the president, but the representative he sent to the meeting made sure to inform him of what had transpired. Needless to say, the evidence gathered against him was quite large. After a brief discussion, new members were chosen for the committee and Secretary Ross was presented before them.

“I did what was best for the United States and the world by tracking down and attempting to apprehend a dangerous fugitive,” Thaddeus states.

“But he was never registered as a fugitive, and from the reports filed,” the head of the committee looks down at the papers. “Every one of your actions resulted in greater losses than what would have been should you have just let Doctor Banner be. You used your countries funds and military in order to infiltrate an allied nation and attempt to capture a civilian, enhanced or not.”

“He was a rogue American asset that had to be apprehended.”

“The United States government had no knowledge of the operation. It was done outside of the approval of the task force they had already set aside for dealing with enhanced individuals. Nor did they have any knowledge of the experiment that turned Doctor Banner into the Hulk. Despite this, both of these were headed by you, using funds by the government.” The man flips through his documents. “What the government was aware of was an experimental super soldier serum. One that you, once again without their approval, administered to a Captain Emil Blonsky. This eventually caused his change into the being that has now been designated the Abomination, and through recent inspection of released SHIELD files, has been declared to be the aggressor in the destruction of Harlem at the time, which is contrary to the reports given to your government. A destruction, I might add, that you yourself sent the Hulk, the very thing you had been hunting, in order to quell.” The man sets Secretary Ross with a level gaze. “Have I said anything false, Secretary?”

His teeth are clenched, and Tony thinks he can see a vein bulging on the man’s forehead, but Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross manages to grind out a single word.

“No.”

“The committee believes that all of this, as well as the other actions reported in the written documentation, shows a complete disregard for the rights and humanity of the enhanced and base-levels that the Accords are designed to protect. As such, we will be removing you from the Council. We will also be keeping you under observation for a period of time while we work through the human rights violations you have displayed from your actions.”

With that, the man is escorted out amidst the clamor of the, admittedly small, audience.

“How long before he’s removed from office?” Tony mutters towards Rhodey.

“He’ll ‘retire’ before that happens,” the best friend whispers back.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I'm back! And Ross is gone!
> 
> Not sure how many chapters I can get out before I lose focus again, but I hope you enjoy them.
> 
> Comments and Kudos. Don't be mean.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of house arrest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while, but here's an update. Not sure when I'll be able to get the next one done, but thank you for reading.
> 
> Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Natasha and Tony escort Clint Barton off of the quinjet, the trio walks towards the familiar picturesque cabin. On the porch, a frowning Laura Barton stands with her arms folded.

“Honey,” Clint gives a nervous smile. “I’m home.”

She walks over and gives him a tight hug, before pulling away and glaring.

“You have a lot of work to do around the house,” she tells him. “And it will start with mucking out the stalls.”

“Yes, dear,” the man sighs.

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

He nods. “I didn’t tell you I was leaving.”

“No,” she snips. “You left a note, which is more than you used to do. Try again.”

Clint blinks in surprise, there’s a few moments while he thinks. “I didn’t call Nat first?”

“You probably should’ve,” she agrees. “But if you thought she or her communications were compromised, that would’ve put your mission in danger. Try again.”

He has to think even longer before his shoulders slump. “I give up.”

“You didn’t bring Wanda here,” Laura glares, tears starting to bead up in her eyes. “Our oldest girl was scared, confused, and needed to be safe, and you took her to a fight. Stark was an idiot for locking her up like that, but at least he kept her away from the government. You got her in prison with you, and now I’m not sure if she’ll ever be able to come home.”

Realization shows on Barton’s face as he hugs her sobbing wife.

“I’m sorry,” he rubs her back. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“You weren’t,” she agrees, sniffling some more.

There’s a few more moments of awkward standing around by the two other adults nearby, but the couple finally separates. Laura wipes her eyes.

“I have to go pick up the kids from school,” she tells them. “They’ll be happy you’re home. I’ll go get Nate ready.” She looks at the two guests. “Are you staying for dinner?”

“Sorry, Laura,” Nat gives an apologetic smile. “We have a few other things that need to get done.”

“Yep,” Stark pops, holding up an ankle monitor. “Just gotta strap this handy little thing on so that he can start his two-year countdown to freedom.”

Laura nods, a little apprehensive, as she takes a brief look at the ankle monitor before heading inside.

“I’m going to go see how little Nathaniel is doing,” Natasha follows the other woman.

“Alright,” Stark motions over to one of the wooden chairs on the porch. “Take a seat so I can get this thing hooked up.”

Clint complies, setting his foot up on the handmade table to let the genius get a better look. There are a few moments of silence before Clint opens his mouth.

“Hey, Stark. Thanks for getting me back home.”

“It was mostly Nat,” he waves off the comment. “I was just the face of the operation.”

“She told me you’d been working on the pardons before she even mentioned them to you,” the archer counters. “So, thanks. And about what I said on the Raft-.”

“You were stressed, and upset,” Tony cuts him off.

“That’s the thing Stark,” Clint’s eyes go serious. “I was upset, but I meant it. Stark, I made a mistake in bringing Wanda with me to the fight, but I still would’ve supported Cap regardless of whether or not she was involved. You fucked up with the Accords. I was angry at you, and I knew something needed to be said to make you wake up and realize how badly you’d messed up.” His tone starts to soften again. “But what I said wasn’t that. I went a little too far, and let my anger control me a little too much. Sam kind of gave me a lecture afterwards. I’m not going to apologize for my actions before then, but I know that you care about all of us, and I’m sorry for what I said.”

They both sit in silence after that, until Tony finishes hooking up the ankle monitor and stands up.

“Welp,” he smiles. “All set for house arrest, Barton. It’s configured to limit you within the range of your property, so you can still do those lovely chores. Stay far away from your property limits, though, just to be on the safe side. Better than Lang by a long shot. He’s stuck in his townhouse.”

“And he’ll be working on those chores while I’m out picking up the kids,” Laura comes back through the door with Nathaniel in her arms. She smiles at Tony. “It was good to see you again. Hopefully we can meet under better circumstances next time.”

“You’ll be getting a visit from some suits every few weeks,” Tony tells them. “And they have permission to do random inspections and checkups as well. Don’t expect it, they probably won’t like driving so far out of the way, but don’t be surprised if it happens. I, along with a few other people approved by the Council, will be checking up on you every six months.”

“Let us know when,” Laura smiles. “We’ll make it a dinner.”

“I’ll keep in contact,” Natasha gives Laura a hug, and gives Nathaniel a tiny wave. She turns to Clint. “See yah, birdbrain. Don’t get too fat on house arrest.”

Clint does his own wave as his two former teammates head back over to the quinjet.

***

“And where is Ms. Romanov at this time, Mr. Stark?”

Tony looks up at the holo-screen showing one of the current members of the Council. He much prefers it when Everett Ross is the one standing there, despite who he might share his last name with, even if he has no relation to the other Ross. However, he’ll make do with what he has.

“She’s out on a journey to find herself, and maybe find a friend along the way,” the billionaire answers.

“This is hardly the time for a sabbatical, Mr. Stark,” the man frowns. “She’s a member of the Avengers.”

“Not active,” Stark reminds the Councilman. “And not enhanced. As such, she isn’t monitored, and she doesn’t have to inform you of her whereabouts.”

“And what is this about finding friends? Not looking for a certain group of former teammates, I hope. That would be against the Accords to take that sort of action.”

“A former teammate, yes,” Stark confirms. “Just not who you might be thinking of. Doctor Banner and Ms. Romanov share… history, you could say. I hope you can understand a lovesick and lonely woman trying to find a long-lost flame when she finally has a break from protecting the world.”

That throws the Councilman, and a few of the other people in the background of the hologram, for a loop. There’s an awkward cough from the man.

“Of course,” he has enough of a conscience to look embarrassed. “I do hope, however, that you will inform us should she come in contact again.”

“That goes without saying,” Stark smiles. “But Bruce has been known to frequent some pretty isolated areas during his hermit periods. I don’t expect regular reports, but she said she’ll be visiting New York on occasion. I’ll let you know if she calls.”

The politician on the other end of the line recovers his calm façade. “That will be all, Mr. Stark.”

The hologram shuts down, and Pepper walks into the room.

“How much of that was true?” the Stark Industries CEO asks.

“All of it, in some way,” Tony shrugs. “She doesn’t have to try and find the ‘Rogue Avengers’ because she should almost be to their location. Someone has to make sure they don’t get captured while half of the world’s governments are still hunting them down. At least until we can get their charges down a bit more and get the Raft completely dismantled and turned into something that’s at least humane. Probably won’t be able to completely get rid of some of their charges, but it’ll help.”

“And the part about Bruce?”

“That’s always been true.” Tony’s face goes serious again. “Not sure how much of that ‘history’ is still there with them; I may have embellished it a bit, but she’s never stopped looking. Most of the leads were dead ends, but hopefully she can find something while she’s on the ground that my systems and resources missed while we were busy with Avengers’ business.”

Pepper gives her lover a soft smile. “C’mon. We have a dinner reservation to get to.”

“Can we skip it?” Tony wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“You already skipped lunch,” she reminds him. “But,” her own smile turns a bit suggestive. “I might let you have dessert after your meal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The familial relationship between Clint and Wanda, as well as the rest of the Bartons, might not be canon. They're definitely close; it shows that on multiple occasions through the series, but the father daughter relationship is one of the headcanons I've enjoyed from other fics.
> 
> Laura would be understanding of Clint leaving suddenly at certain times. She might not like it, seeing as he was retired, but she'd understand.
> 
> Clint was understandably angry at Tony for the Raft incident, especially with seeing Wanda in a straight jacket and shock collar, but I feel like the "futurist" comment was a bit of a low blow.
> 
> Sam works with veterans. He knows trauma when he sees it. Tony might not be his favorite person, but I don't think he'll be as critical as a lot of other people might be.
> 
> I ship Bruce and Natasha. I'm sorry if you don't, but too bad. It's one of my favorite ships in the series, for various reasons, and you can stop reading if you have a problem with it. They won't get together right away when I eventually reintroduce Doctor Banner. They have to get over the whole "pushing a guy off a ledge" thing. No matter how necessary that might have been, it was still a bit of a dick move. Still, they will eventually get together.
> 
> I'm planning on making a little side series for this universe. Just short snippets of other events that don't really matter in the main story, but are fun to know about. It's going to mostly be fluff, but it'll also be there to answer any particular questions you have about the universe itself and the characters in it. So, if you have anything you'd like to know or see, let me know. I'll see what I can do.
> 
> Comments and Kudos. Don't be mean.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meetings, and a well deserved lecture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. Yay!

Chapter 8

There’s a knock at the door, and Sam Wilson draws his pistol. Steve Rogers is there, too, ready to fight whoever’s found their safehouse. Wanda peeks her head out from the hallway. Then, her eyes widen as she bolts forward to the door.

“Wanda, wait!”

But she’s already opened the door. The Scarlet Witch jumps forward, wrapping her arms around their visitor.

“Hey, Wanda,” Natasha Romanov sighs as she returns the hug. “How’s it been?”

The two women walk into the apartment. Cap relaxes.

“Jesus, Nat,” Steve exhales. “You scared us.”

“Please,” Sam snorts, his gun still up. “What makes you think she doesn’t have a hit squad behind her?”

“Because you’d already be dead or in custody if there were,” the Black Widow smiles at the Falcon. “I’m here to keep you away from the people hunting you. Glad you’re on guard, though. It’ll help for when I’m not here.”

“You’re not going to be staying?” Steve Rogers frowns. “Where are you going?”

“I also brought a few things,” she takes the bag off of her back. “It’s mostly just basic SHIELD espionage gear, but,” she rifles through it for a few moments. “I did bring this.”

She holds a small box out to Wanda. Curious, the Sokovian takes it and opens it.

“It’s a communicator,” she smiles at the younger girl. “Designed to directly patch into Vision. I know there are a few things that you need to talk about, on both sides, but he does want to hear from you.”

The Scarlet Witch looks down at the device, then up at Natasha, before running off to her room.

“Hey, Nat,” Sam closes the door before giving her a hug. “How’s it been?”

“Pretty good,” she gives him a smile as she pulls away. “Glad to see you’ve all been doing alright. Keeping with the training I gave you all.”

“Yep,” he chuckles. “Don’t trust anyone. Never stay in one place for too long. How’d you find us, anyways?”

“I have resources,” she smirks. “And a billionaire with greater satellite coverage and resources than most governments, as well as the ability to focus on a single target.”

“Tony knows we’re here?” Steve stands up, caution evident in his voice.

“Have you been doing alright?” She asks Sam. “Any money problems?”

“We managed to get some from a few little holes in the wall when we happened to touch down in New York a few months ago. Steve doesn’t trust banks very much.”

“They weren’t that trustworthy when I was growing up,” the Man out of Time frowns.

“Well,” the superspy reaches into the bag again, pulling out a slightly smaller sack and handing it to Sam. “There should be a decent amount of money in there. Small and large bills, from different countries. As well as some bank cards that have the equivalent of a few thousand on each. I trust you won’t waste it.” She picks up the bag again. “I’ll be in the apartment down the hall. We’ll move again in another month.”

She walks out, leaving the two former soldiers standing there. One of the is smiling, while the other one gapes a bit.

“Did she just give me the cold shoulder?” Steve asks Sam.

“Are you surprised?” Sam raises an eyebrow at his friend.

***

They’d moved twice since the initial meeting, and Nat has been going back and forth between New York and various out of the way parts of the world. From what little Wanda accidentally picks up when she’s close to the spy, the Black Widow is searching for any word of Dr. Banner, but there’s something different about the New York visits.

“There’s someone there,” Wanda frowns, talking to Sam one night. “She’s protective, and caring. And amused, sometimes. It’s not romantic, but… it’s kind of sweet.”

She hasn’t shared, and they don’t press, but there’s still curiosity from the three “Rogues.”

It’s another three months, when Steve finally decides to try to clear the air. During the entire time they’ve been together, Natasha’s been doing what she could to keep from talking to him. Sure, when they’re on one of the few missions they go on, she’s as communicative as she used to be, but it’s all business. Rogers learned quickly that she would shut down her communication after the mission, going back to her silent treatment of the supersoldier.

“C’mon, Nat,” he sighs. “How long are you planning on doing this?”

“I was thinking about two years,” she looks up from her newspaper, fixing him with a glare. “You know, a little symbolic, don’t you think?”

“Okay, look, I know I messed up-.”

“No, Steve,” she closes the paper and sets it down. “Messing up is when Tony tries to make breakfast and causes the sprinkler system to go off. Messing up is when you forget your own strength and break your favorite mug. Messing up is when Clint would underestimate the sturdiness of a vent and crash through on top of Thor. What you did was purposefully hide the truth about Tony’s parents because you didn’t trust him. What was that you always said? ‘We don’t keep secrets.’ We were family, Steve, and you kept the biggest secret out of all of us. Yes, Tony’s made a hell of a lot of mistakes in the time we’ve been together, and he might have started the break up when he signed the Accords, but you… you finished it.”

She’s standing now, tears beading up in her eyes, right in front of the Captain. Despite the fact that he’s taller than her, the two other people in the room can tell who’s towering over whom right now. Steve opens up his mouth.

“Don’t,” Nat cuts him off. “Don’t apologize, not to me. Sometimes it takes a hell of a lot more than words to make up for the things you’ve done.”

With that, she turns on her heel and stalks to the room her and Wanda are sharing in their current residence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've kind of been thinking about the difference between Sam and Rhodey. Both of them are basically the plucky side-kicks of the main heroes that get their own movies. Both of them have a similar mindset of following their friends through thick and thin because they agree with their philosophies. However, I think the difference between the two of them would be the type of soldier they are.
> 
> Rhodey is the regular, if amazingly decorated, soldier. Before the War Machine armor, he was a normal pilot. He flew normal missions, and he saw the good in the armed forces, and for the most part, the people that gave him orders.
> 
> Sam, on the other hand, was definitely not a normal soldier. The wings he uses to fly were probably almost solely used for special missions and stealth operations. I think that, along with his more recent involvement in the battle against HYDRA, makes him the more paranoid and less trusting between him and Rhodes.
> 
> The thing between Wanda and Vision is sweet. I do, however, think that both sides were at fault during that whole incident at the Compound. Wanda, for her part, was already pretty emotionally unstable and dealing with her most recent trauma, so I don't really know if I can blame her too much for following someone she trusted and looked up to in an attempt to right her most recent wrong.
> 
> Vision, on the other hand, I do understand was doing his best to help and comfort her, as well as keep her safe. The problem is that he isn't the most emotionally developed of individuals. Understandable, given that he's technically the youngest out of all of them by a great degree. Still, he basically called her a monster, and didn't do a very good job of explaining that she's at the Compound for her own protection. Not the best babysitter, if you think about it.
> 
> I also don't think that Wanda hates Tony. She regular worked with Rhodey, Vision, and Natasha. Once they found out the reason for her grudge against Stark, any one of them would have had a pretty good reason to explain the truth behind the matter. Nat, because of her wish to make sure that everyone can work together when they're on mission, and because I still think she views Tony as a part of her team/family. Rhodey is Tony's best friend. He wouldn't let that big of a misconception stay prevalent. Vision is based pretty much around facts at this current time in the story, so he wouldn't let that stand, either. Still, Tony Stark would probably never be her favorite person. Even if it is a small role, he did design the weapon that did the job. Plus, his name kind of was staring at her and her brother while they were waiting for death to come. Trauma kind of does things to you.
> 
> Finally, is Steve. Go back to chapter four and read a comment by meresger. His second paragraph is pretty close to my opinion of Steve Rogers and his thought process. However, there's also a bit more to it.
> 
> Steve grew up during the Great Depression and World War II. For him, those events are still relatively recent. When he sees the tagging and indefinite confinement of a specified group of people, he's going to focus on that. He's also incredibly similar to Tony in that, once he sets his mind to something, he won't back down unless he receives a huge wake-up-call. He wasn't necessarily wrong about his concerns, and if we're being completely honest, his motivations in the Civil War movie were never really about the Accords in the first place. It was all about Bucky for him. Which is why his "you did that when you signed" is a bit annoying and was just a way for the directors to end a conversation that probably would have deescalated the epic team battle that they had written.
> 
> Looking at the time when he was about to sign the Accords, it's kind of understandable that he didn't. Like I said, he fought in World War II. The time when America put Japanese in internment camps. One of his Howling Commandos was Japanese himself. When he heard that Wanda was getting what he thought was the same treatment, it's completely understandable that he would be pissed. Add on that Tony did a terrible job at explaining the situation to him, once again, and him storming out of the room is something I probably would've done in the same situation.
> 
> Next, I want to point out that Wanda is a weapon of mass destruction. There's really no way around it. Probably wasn't the best time for Tony to point that out, but it is true. Someone who masters a martial art to a certain degree is a registered lethal weapon, so having an enhanced who can literally destroy a building with her thoughts would probably be considered something a bit bigger. Like I said, it probably would have been better to explain that in a less high-strung situation, but Tony has never been very tactful.
> 
> Comments and Kudos. Don't be mean.


End file.
